The Indians Were Astonished
Beyond Measure At This Novel And Unexpected Attack, Believing The Horse
And Rider To Be One Strange Ferocious Animal, And Instantly Fled Into The
Adjacent Woods And Marshes, Leaving The Field Of Battle To Us.
Cortes informed us after the battle, that his march had been much retarded
by bad ground, and by the attacks of some detached bodies of the enemy,
who had wounded five of his men and eight horses.
Being thus victorious,
the cavalry dismounted, and we assembled under a grove of trees, where we
gave thanks to GOD and his blessed mother for our victory. A town was
afterwards founded on the field of battle, named Santa Maria della
Vittoria[8], in memory of this victory. After binding up our wounds and
those of the horses, which we dressed with the fat of dead Indians, we
examined the field of battle, where we found upwards of 800 of the enemy
dead or dying of their wounds, the slain being particularly numerous where
the cavalry had charged. After burying two of our soldiers, one of whom
was killed by a wound in the ear, and the other by one in the throat, we
retired to our quarters at Tabasco towards evening, where we eat our
suppers, and having placed sufficient guards, we went to sleep.
Gomara relates that in this battle, previous to the arrival of Cortes with
the cavalry, one of the holy apostles, either St Jago or Peter, appeared
on a dapple-grey horse under the semblance of Francisco de Morla.
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